This invention relates to elongated hanging bags or garment bags of the type having a vertical fastening means, such as a zipper, along a front panel of the bag, the panel being unattached to the body of the bag along its upper edge. Typically, such a garment bag has a zipper running substantially the entire length down the front of the bag, dividing the front into two panels. The panels are secured at the bottom and sides of the bag. Since the panels are unattached at the top, however, an opening in that part of the bag requires additional means for protecting and shielding the contents of the bag and also requires means for covering the zipper slide member to reduce the liklihood of the bag being opened inadvertently, or by intrusions of others.
One method used to cover the top of the zipper and front panels has been to sew a permanent cowl to the top and sides of the upper portion of the bag, leaving the cowl open along its bottom. The cowl bottom extends a sufficient distance down the bag to satisfactorily cover the top of the zippered panels. This has been somewhat unsatisfactory and users of such bags often find the cowl a substantial inconvenience because it interferes with locating the zipper slide. Also, the cowl is physically and psychologically confining, and it is a hindrance to the ease with which the user can gain access to the hanger trolley assembly to insert individual hangers and clothing into the bag or remove them from it.
One method contemplated for reducing the inconvenience of traditional cowls is to design them in separable halves, zippered together at the middle. By unzipping the cowl vertically up the middle, the main bag zipper could then be exposed. However, with the cowls fixed at the ends, the halves still would present an awkward barrier in using the bag. Conversely, by providing only zippers at the ends and none in the middle, the cowl could be loosened into a flap, but it would still hang over the main bag zipper and block the interior from visual inspection. Even by providing zippers at the ends and the middle of the cowl, the overall result would merely be to have two flaps hanging down. (Also, such zipper-laden cowls would be decidedly unattractive.)
In short, the conventional cowl, and other variations previously contemplated for such cowls, have only modest utility, yet they have considerable undesirable characteristics. Accordingly, it has long been felt desirable to provide a garment bag with some device or means having all the desirable characteristics of a conventional cowl, along with other advantageous features, without its disadvantages.